Award winning TULiPPS Solar B.V. first to use glass of Ducatt

TULiPPS Solar B.V. won the 2012 Dutch Solar Innovation Awards in the Industrial Development category. Managing director Paul Stassen succeeded in developing a 500 Wp PV module: COSMOS®.
 
A prototype was produced with 2 mm tempered glass of Ducatt. Kiwa N.V., an independent solar-module testing and certification organization, executed two tests.

The first test was a ‘Module Breakage Test’ in which a ball of 45,5 kg is dropped from a maximum height of 122 cm to destroy the module in order to see how the glass fragments. This test had an outcome that has never been seen before: the module survived 3 out of 3 impacts. The glass did not break, no underlying solar cells were damaged and above that the module retained 95 % of its original electrical output.
 
For the ‘Hail Impact Test’ the 500 Wp COSMOS® module was bombarded with ice balls that were 25 mm in diameter. The ice balls hit the module with 51,5 m/s at several places and again the COSMOS® module did not show any loss of output and there were no signs of micro-cracks.
 
TULiPPS Solar B.V. wants to work with the ultra-thin glass of Ducatt to produce these COSMOS® modules. Not only because the glass of Ducatt is ultra-thin but it is also ultra-clear and toughened, a unique combination.